AS EVER.
Jenny Williams in the Tie Tanker Pant. Amazing artist whose work can be seen @what_my_daughter_wore. She is a dear friend and muse of As Ever.
Sara Moffat in Mission Olive Zip Jumpsuit. Owner of @ldbastudio and maker of the most beautiful and coveted water color paints that Jenny Williams used for the As Ever series. We speak of our love for Sara often, we are forever grateful for her contributions to As Ever. You can read about them here.
Liviya England in the Poppy Brancusi Pant. Dancer. As Ever muse. Family. Liv moved from Minneapolis to NYC at the age of 16 to train with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre School. She went on to study Dance at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and is set to graduate Spring 2020. Definitely one to watch @princesslivi.
Astrid Dahl in Natural Denim Willow Pants. As Ever's number one muse, the reason it all started. Astrid has a hand (and eye) in all aspects of As Ever. She is also a real renaissance woman and shares her unique eye @astridmai. Love her. As ever. Forever.
A playlist Astrid put together. Music plays a big part in how we try to navigate each day.
Listen here.
Uncertainty is front and center. But we know each day will be at home. Having a list of things we would like to accomplish helps us stay focused. Music and a puzzle in the works helps when we feel distracted or lose focus on our list.
Artist we love. Luchita Hurtado. Untitled, 1971. Read via the New York Times.
I met Mark and Astrid 5 years ago when our store was in Brooklyn, we were introduced by a mutual friend. I instantly became a fan. He has since become a friend, collaborator and one of my all time favorite people. We spent a morning discussing his brand, AS EVER.
AH: In your life thus far you have been a master of many things, actor, vintage dealer, woodworker, restaurant owner, clothing designer, you seem to have a knack for moving seamlessly between. How did all these lead you to conceiving As Ever.
MK: I’d say I’m jack of all trades - everything I’ve done I have definitely achieved a level of success but have always had many interests, each of them have organically lead me to the next. I like projects that are 6 months to 6 years.
As Ever started by accident — I had a small design build business and a studio in Bushwick — in previous years I had also sold vintage at the 26th street flea and had a lot of leftover workwear from those days. I was super into salvage items, wood, lighting. Pre-internet I sourced vintage for some retailers, traveled the country sourcing and selling in NY. It was always something I enjoyed, that I liked and had an eye for. When I moved out of the woodworking space — I unearthed some vintage workwear I had stored and decided to re-work some jumpsuits into pants for myself and Astrid, my wife. Those became the Tanker pant. I used a tailor for the construction but I realized that these are things I could do myself.
My next piece was a Department of Defense jumpsuit, I took away things, added fit, dyed it and my wife wore it… she was spotted in a garden store by Samira Nasr who was editor of ELLE at the time, one thing led to another and Samira had us in ELLE and was wearing it. Soon after we took an indigo dying class with Sara Moffat from LBDA — I started to work on my dyeing techniques, sourcing product and slowly selling a small selection at her events and Field & Supply.
AH: You now design and manufacture your own pieces, how did that come about?
MK: In sourcing the vintage pieces, quantity became an issue and something that was not very sought after had become more wanted in the vintage world. My sourcing options started to dry up. In 2017, I started working with a pattern maker to perfect my first three pieces, I really focused on learning more about the construction and fit. I’ve since slowly taught myself how to make patterns and moved away from altering vintage into growing our own collection. I’ve tried to understand how to work in the seasonal way that the fashion calendar requires, but what we make is more of a seasonless product.
AH: Your wife Astrid plays a big part in AS EVER, tell me a bit about her influence and role.
MK: Astrid is the #1 muse and the insight to what women want from AS EVER. She has the eye for the creativity, the color and the image of the brand. She shoots all of the photos.
AH: Who are your other muses, influences of the brand, living and non-living:
MK: REAL women. Sarah Moffat of LBDA, women from our friend circle, the artist Jenny Williams, What My Daughter Wore, Juliette from Maison Bergogne, Cat Birch @fortgreenegeneral, Doris Josovitz @lostquarry. Strong, creative, articulate women with a sense of personal style.
Dali, Louise Bourgeois, Brancusi have all inspired me in different ways. We also recently discovered artist Luchita Hurtado. During a February family trip to Los Angeles, we were lucky to catch her first exhibition in the United States to showcase her remarkable eight decade career (she is 99 years old), I Live I Die I Will Be Reborn at LACMA.
AH: Tell me a bit about how music plays a role in your life and creativity.
MK: Astrid and I grew up with wildly different taste in music — she’s from Minneapolis and had the whole First Avenue scene — Prince, etc. Until I was 14 I was in South Miami and listened to a lot of Southern Rock — Talking Heads, Led Zeppelin, Leonard Skynard, later I moved to Long Island and was exposed to the whole new wave music scene that influenced NYC — I loved the station WLIR, the first station of it’s kind dedicated to punk and new wave. Over the years our musical taste became a medley as we grew as a couple. I’m a fan of weird, old everything so our speakers, turntables are from the 70s but I have it all hooked up to digital. We have an extensive library of LPs, mixtapes, cd’s. I love music but I equally need silence to think and process.
AH: How are you and the family spending this time during Covid-19, has it drastically changed your day to day?
MK: Pre-covid I spent a lot of time alone, at home working. I was just looking for a studio space to move the design studio out of the house and finally have a bit more space to set up my machines. It’s been a double-edged sword, on the positive side, we’ve been able to slow down, catch up on certain aspects of growing a small business and implement some practices that will help me going forward. As a family, we have goals for everyday that help keep us on point and quell the anxiety of it all whether it’s home projects, helping the kids with homework, working in the yard. When things feel overwhelming we switch the focus. We are continuing to be hopefully optimistic about the future.
